Gender-based crimes on the Internet: digital violence

Gender-based crimes on the Internet: digital violence

According to the United Nations (UN), women are 27 times more likely to be attacked online than men. In fact, it is estimated that gender-based violence that occurs in the digital realm has the same way of operating and the same effects as conventional violence that occurs in the physical realm. In practice, what has happened is that there are now new channels through which the control or monitoring carried out by a partner can be amplified and intensified.

Violence in the virtual environment

Gender-based violence in the virtual environment manifests itself in a wide variety of ways, from the sending of threats or insults through the network, to the publication of denigrating, misogynist and sexist comments, to the dissemination of compromising images of the victim without her consent in a provocative or sexual attitude. 

Several studies show that two out of ten Spanish women who have been victims of harassment or violence in the virtual environment claim to have received “inappropriate, humiliating, intimidating or offensive” messages or insinuations through social networks such as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, as well as through instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp or emails. 

The fact that these behaviors are exacerbated in the network lies in the absence of limits, the speed at which the threat circulates and communication occurs between the harasser and his victim, the transnationality and the feeling of “anonymity” available to the cybercriminal.

Types of gender-based cyber-violence

Some of the most common types of gender-based violence that occur in virtual environments include:

• Cyberbullying: consisting of carrying out harassment or intimidation of the victim through digital technologies. 
• Grooming or cybersexual harassment: in general, the harasser creates a false identity to establish a virtual relationship with a child, adolescent or person in a vulnerable condition with the intention of manipulating, seducing and/or motivating the victim to participate in certain behaviors of a sexual nature. 
• Sextortion: form of sexual extortion that consists of threatening and blackmailing the victim, mostly women, to disseminate compromising images in which she could be identified. 
• Gender trolling: anti-feminist practice and gender trolling on the Internet, in which the harasser engages in disparaging and/or insulting women online, especially targeting women with a certain reputation or voice on the web. 
• Revenge porn: phenomenon that occurs when a person disseminates sexual images of their partner or ex-partner through a pornographic website with the aim of humiliating them or taking revenge.

How to prevent gender-based cyber-violence?

Some actions that can be taken to prevent gender-based cyber-violence are:

• Protect accounts, access to e-mails or electronic devices by implementing passwords that are difficult to guess, so that no one can access information without the consent of the owner.
• Eliminate or block people who cause discomfort, harassment, threats, offensive comments, etc. 
• Do not share compromising images to strangers or acquaintances who demand it. 
• Do not agree to blackmail and / or manipulation through the network. 
• Not to provide or share the location of your device over the Internet. 

Collect as much evidence as possible of the harassment and, if it persists over time, report the harasser to the authorities.